The Colorado Avalanche are considered to be among the top teams in the NHL again this year, and bookies had them pegged as favorites in NHL betting markets going into the 2022-23 campaign.
The Avalanche will be looking to repeat their success of last year, and have made a strong start to the season. But while the Avalanche are a fantastic team, they have some tough opposition that might contend with their chances of securing back to back Stanley Cups.
The Dallas Stars will also be looking to top the Central Division, while further down the line the Avalanche will potentially need to overcome the likes of the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Florida Panthers if they are to go all the way.
The Colorado Avalanche is a team of excellent players including Cale Marker, who was one of the best defensive skaters in the league last year, as well as stars in Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Colorado have also picked up the likes of Georgiev, Blidh, Maltsev and Brad Hunt to bolster their squad for this year.
The Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup for the third time in the 2021/2022 season, defeating two times defending champions the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 in the finals. They also topped the Central Division last year, as well as in 2020-21, and will undoubtedly be hoping for a similar result in 2022-23.
The Avalanche went out in the second round of playoffs in 2021 to the Vegas Golden Knights, while in 2019-20 they came second in their division and lost in the second round playoffs to eventual finalists the Dallas Stars.
The Avalanche have been a top contender over recent years, and we’d expect this year to see more of the same from the Colorado team.
The Colorado Avalanche was founded in 1972, and joined the NHL in 1979 because of the NHL-WHA merger. The franchise was formerly the Quebec Nordiques, but was renamed the Colorado Avalanche in 1995 following a move to Denver.
A member of the World Hockey Association between 1972 and 1979, the team won the WHA championship in 1979 before starting to play in the NHL. They reached the NHL playoffs in 1981-1987 for seven consecutive times, after which their performance and achievements started to decline.
In 1992-93, the Avalanche began to show improvement with new team players aboard, and were able to reach the playoffs again, winning their division in 1997 along with the President’s Trophy for having the best record in the NHL at the end of the regular season. The franchise finally won the Stanley Cup in the 2000-01 season, defeating the New Jersey Devils.
The Colorado Avalanche play their home matches at the Ball Arena, which was called the Pepsi Centre until 2020. The venue opened on October 1st, 1999, and has an 18,000 capacity. The Colorado Avalanche’s fans sing the Blink 182 song “All The Small Things” to keep the game lively and to cheer the team on. In addition, the Ball Arena has various stands for food and drinks throughout to keep the audience refreshed.
The Avalanche share a rivalry with the Detroit Red Wings, which is one of the biggest in the NHL. Both teams gained recognition in the 1990s; however, the rivalry intensified from 1996 to 2000. During this period, the two teams met in the playoffs five times, and the Red Wings won the Stanley cup three times while the Avalanche won the Stanley cup twice.
More recently, Colorado has seen a rivalry develop with the St. Louis Blues. It began in 2001 when the teams battled for a Stanley Cup finals spot, and intensified with the 2013-14 season when both teams started playing in the same division. Things became more heated during the 2017-18 season when the Avalanche claimed late in the game victories over the Blues in two consecutive meetings.
